Hairy Bittercress: The 79th Flower of Spring and Summer

I've always loved tiny flowers, and when I was a little girl, I would collect itty bitty flowers in the cracks of our sidewalk and make little mouse bouquets! :) I was always surprised that so few people knew about these tiny beauties, so I made sure to show everyone I could as I grew up. What I didn't realize is the vast number of different tiny floweers out there!! On our property alone, I've taken pictures of dozens of tiny flower species...and here is another one! Looking at this flower from a standing position, it's just a fleck of white and hardly there at all! Isn't it nice to see a big view of this dainty beauty! :)

Hairy Bittercress is a common, widespread, invasive weed with a very interesting way of distributing its seeds. Do you see the "sticks" all around the blossoms? Those are called "siliques". You can them emerging from the flower heads as well. After the flower is pollinated, the petals fall off and the seeds begin to grow inside this capsule of seeds, which becomes longer as the seeds mature. When the capsule is dry, pressure from inside (or being touched) causes it to explode, causing seeds to spray as much as 10 feet from the plant! That's some feat, considering that each capsule is only about 1" in size! WOW!!!

Native to Europe and Asia, this member of the mustard family is now found all over North America. Contrary to the "bitter" in its name, bittercress is edible and it's mild-flavored leaves make nice additions to spring salads!

If you would like to know more about this flower, Wiki has a good page here: Wiki: Hairy Bittercress: (Cardamine hirsuta)